Govan Mbeki was born in Transkei (Eastern Cape), joined the Africa
National Congress (ANC) in 1935, becoming its national chairman in 1956 and
later secretary of its military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation).
He joined the South African Communist Party (SACP) in 1961. Like many other
activists, Mbeki attended mission schools and studied at the University of Fort
Hare, completing a degree in politics and psychology and teaching diploma in
1936. His career as a teacher was, however, short-lived. He got sacked because
of his political and trade union activities. In 1938 he moved back to Transkei
to devote himself to local politics and writing. In 1943 Mbeki helped draw up a
document called African Claims which formed the basis of the freedom charter of
1955.

In 1954 he joined New Age, a liberation newspaper that reflected the
conditions black people lived in as well as their aspirations and demands. In
November 1962 JB Vorster, then Minister of Justice, banned the newspaper. When
the editorial staff launched a new paper, Spark, Vorster banned not only
the paper but also its editors and writers, prohibiting them from having
anything to do with its creation, printing, or distribution. The result: a cat
and mouse game in which papers kept changing their names and the government kept
banning them.

Govan Mbeki was arrested in 1963 along with other member of the ANC when police
raided a farm in Rivonia, a suburb of Johannesburg. At what is known as the
Rivonia trial he was charged with treason and conspiring to overthrow the
government, and sentenced to life imprisonment (along with Nelson Mandela,
Walter Sisulu, Elias Motsoaledi, Ahmed Kathrada, Denis Goldberg, Raymond Mhlaba,
and Andrew Mhlangeni).

In 1977, while he was still in prison on Robben Island, the University of
Amsterdam awarded Mbeki an honorary doctorate of social science for his book The Peasant's Revolt
which had been published in Britain in 1964 (and banned in South Africa). The
book deals with revolt against the government by South Africa's poor peasants
and agricultural workers in Zululand and Pondoland between 1956 and 1960.

On 5 November 1987 the South African Nationalist government released Mbeki
from Robben Island, hoping this would pave the way for the release of other
long-serving political prisoners. But instead of quietly enjoying his freedom,
Mbeki resumed working for the ANC. The government restricted him to the city of
Port Elizabeth until November 1989. In February 1990 the ban on the ANC was
lifted and Mbeki resumed his place on its national committee.

After South Africa's first democratic elections were held, in May 1994, Govan
Mbeki was elected Deputy President of the Senate. His quest for a free South
Africa had been realised. He retired from politics in 1999. When asked about his
son being president, he said: "I feel fine, not because he is my son, but
because we have a man in that position to carry on with the work of the ANC and
the people of South Africa."

Govan Mbeki died in his sleep on 30 August 2001, at his home in Port
Elizabeth, at the age of 91.